44 any man's business but he knew of old that the Bishop's liquor account was most peculiar. Tim Leary studied it in stupefaction. "Honor of God!" he said angrily. "Are you trying to tell me that the Bishop drinks all that?" "Bishops have a lot of entertaining to do, Tim," Paddy said meekly. "Bishops don't have to have a bloody bonded store to entertain In!" shouted Tim. "Well, Tim, 'tis a delicate matter," Paddy said, sweating with anxiety. "If a man is to have customers in this country, he cannot afford to ask questions. " "Well, begod, I'm going to ask a few questions," cried Tim, "and I'm going to do it this very morning, what's more. Give me that ledger! " Then, wIth the ledger under his arm, he went straight up to the palace. Nellie tried to head him off. First she said the Bishop was out; then she said the Bishop was ill; finally she said that the Bishop had given orders that Tim was not to be admitted. "You try to stop me, Nellie, and I'll damn soon show you whether I'm going to be admitted or not," said Tim, pushing past her, and at that moment the study door opened and the Bishop came out. It was no coincidence, and at that moment Nellie knew she was lost, for along with the appetite of a child the Bishop had the curiosity of a child, and a beggar's voice at the door would be sufficient for him to get up and leave the door of his study ajar so that he could listen in comfort to the con versa- tion. "That wil1 do, Nellie," he said, and then came up to Tim with a menacing air-a handsome old man of six foot two, with a baby complexion and fierce bl ue eyes. "What do you want " he asked sternly, but on his own ground TIm could be as Infallible as any bishop. "I'm investigating the smuggling that's going on in this locality, and I want to ask you a few questions, my Lord," he replied grimly. "So I heard," said the Bishop. "I told the Minister already I couldn't see why you had to do your investigating in my house. " "I'm a public servant, my Lord," Tim saId, his VOIce risIng, "and I'm en- titled to make my investigations wher- ever I have to " " y , . d d ou re a very In epen ent young man," the Bishop said dryly but without rancor "Tell me, are you John Leary's son from Clooneavullen?" "I'm nothing of the sort. Who said I REPLY TO THE PR.OVINCES He writes from the provinces: It is Shuttered and desolate there; will I please E very so often sit on a bench for him In the Luxembourg Gardens? So now, In the elegant autumn, to regard and guess: The sea-eyed children watching their sloops Angling on the flood Expectant in their books The delicate young women? The would-be Casters-off of expectatIon? The hands-in-hands? The Algerians, Americans, English, Danes, Giving the Gardens their Parisian character Fountained light streaming on the wind? The fellow shucking chestnuts for his girl? Surely these, and things of this kind- Whatever is human. Also, I marvel at the leaves Y ello T on the sky, and there, on the grass, Where the leaves overlap, yellow, the yellow sun ForcIng the hidden glowing from the earth. I, like an ape on a branch, on a bench Swing and peer in the jungle of mankind, Closer, closer, I think, to the earth-its Secret throes-than the swinging beast itself. In the provinces, maybe he has walked from town. In a city of leaves, he may have found her already. Perhaps they are lying among the leaves, laughing, POInting out for each other the brown faces in the leaves. -GALWAY KINNELL . was John Leary's son My father was from ManIster." "F or God's sake!" the Bishop said softly. "You're not Jim Leary's boy, by any chance?" "I am, then," said Tim Tith a shrug. "Come on in," the Bishop said, hold- ing out hIs hand to Tim, while his eyes searched away into the distance beyond the front door . "Your father was head- master there when I was a canon. I must have seen you when you were a little fellow. Come in, anyway . No son of Jim Leary's is going to leave thIs house without a drink." "But I'm on duty, my Lord," said TIm, following him in. "Aren't we all?" the Bishop asked mildly as he went to the sideboard. "I'm as much a bishop now as I'll ever be." With shaky hands he produced two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. He gave one tiny glass to Tim and took another himself. It was obviously a duty rather than a pleasure. The Bishop did not go . in for drinking, because it seemed to ruin his appetite and that was bad enough al- ready. "Now, tell me what all this is about," he saId comfortably. Tim was beginning to realize that he really liked the man-an old weakness of his, which, combined with his violent temper, made him a bad investigator. He sometimes thought the bad temper and the good nature were only two as- pects of the same thing. "A man was caught trying to cross the Border a few days ago with a keg of your whiskey in hIs car," he said as firm- ly as he could. "A keg of my w hlskey " the Bishop repeated Tith real interest and apparent enjoyment. "But what would I be doing with a keg of whiskey " "That's what I came to ask you," re- plied Tim. "You seem to have bought enough of them in the past year." "I never bought a keg of whiskey in my whole life, boy," said the Bishop with amusement. "Sure, if I take a drop of punch before I go to bed, that's all the whiskey I ever see. It's bad for a man of my age," he added earnestly. "I haven't the constitution." "If you'll take one look at your ac- count in Clancy's ledger, you'll see you're supposed to have an iron constitu- tion," said Tim, and as he opened the